Name: Date:
from the Odyssey, Part 1
HOMER, TRANSLATED BY ROBERT FITZGERALD
FIRST READ: Comprehension
Identify the choice that best answers the question.
1. What danger do the Lotus-Eaters pose to Odysseus’ men in the excerpt from
the Odyssey, Part 1?
a. The Lotus-Eaters offer the men the Lotus plant, which causes them to
lose interest in returning home.
b. The Lotus-Eaters are dishonest and try to mislead the crew about the
route home.
c. Familiarity with the Lotus-Eaters is dangerous because they are
cannibals.
d. The Lotus-Eaters deliberately cause the winds to subside.
2. In the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1, what quality for which Odysseus is
famous is most clearly illustrated when he tells Cyclops that his name is
Nohbdy?
a. He is clever.
b. He is courageous.
c. He is trained for battle.
d. He is an effective leader.
3. In the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1, why does Odysseus blind Cyclops
rather than kill him in his sleep?
a. Odysseus and his men lack the physical strength to kill the giant.
b. Odysseus’ heart is moved by compassion for the foolish Cyclops.
c. Odysseus and his men need Cyclops to move the stone that blocks the
cave’s entrance.
d. Odysseus’ men convince him that Poseidon will curse them if they kill
any of the Cyclopes.
4. In which of these episodes from the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1, does
Odysseus lose all his men?
a. “The Sirens”
b. “The Cyclops”
c. “The Lotus-Eaters”
d. “The Cattle of the Sun God”
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GRADE 9 • UNIT 5 • SELECTION TEST
FROM THE ODYSSEY, PART 1, BY HOMER, TRANSLATED BY ROBERT FITZGERALD
Name: Date:
5. At the end of the episode with Cyclops in the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1,
what does Polyphemus do that affects future events in the epic?
a. He destroys Odysseus’ ship.
b. He prophesies that Odysseus will visit Hades.
c. He begs his father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus.
d. He tells Odysseus that he will chase him back to Ithaca.
FIRST READ: Concept Vocabulary
Identify the choice that best answers the question.
6. If people are described as fugitives from justice, which statement is most likely
to be true of them? Base your answer on the meaning of fugitives.
a. They are being held in jail.
b. They have run away to avoid arrest.
c. They have committed a minor crime.
d. They have been found not guilty at trial.
7. Which sort of situation would someone be most likely to want to avenge?
a. kindness to a needy stranger
b. feelings of self-hatred or disgust
c. remorse for an accidental wrong
d. violence against a family member
8. In which activity would you be most likely to apply tactics?
a. participating in ballroom dancing
b. playing a game of chess
c. playing a guitar solo
d. knitting a scarf
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GRADE 9 • UNIT 5 • SELECTION TEST
FROM THE ODYSSEY, PART 1, BY HOMER, TRANSLATED BY ROBERT FITZGERALD
Name: Date:
CLOSE READ: Analyze the Text
Identify the choice that best answers the question.
9. In the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1, what ancient Greek value does
Odysseus most clearly describe in these words to Alcinous?
“Men hold me
formidable for guile in peace and war:
this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim.”
a. admiration for peacemaking
b. admiration for modesty
c. admiration for sincerity
d. admiration for cunning
10. What values important to the ancient Greeks inspire Odysseus’ observations in
these lines from the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1?
“In the next land we found were Cyclopes,
giants, louts, without a law to bless them.
In ignorance leaving the fruitage of the earth in mystery
to the immortal gods, they neither plow
nor sow by hand, nor till the ground….
Cyclopes have no muster and no meeting,
no consultation or old tribal ways….”
a. admiration for devotion to one’s religion
b. admiration for physical size, strength, and power
c. admiration for agriculture, law, tradition, and social organization
d. admiration for a natural, pure life and surviving by one’s instincts
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GRADE 9 • UNIT 5 • SELECTION TEST
FROM THE ODYSSEY, PART 1, BY HOMER, TRANSLATED BY ROBERT FITZGERALD
Name: Date:
11. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.
Part A Throughout the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1, Odysseus tempts fate
by behaving recklessly. What is the reaction of his men?
a. They laugh at his hotheaded behavior.
b. They trust his ability to protect them.
c. They welcome his risk-taking action.
d. They try to discourage his rashness.
Part B Which of these passages from “The Cyclops” in the excerpt from the
Odyssey, Part 1, best supports the answer to Part A?
a. “… I wished / to see the cave man, what he had to offer— / no pretty sight, it
turned out, for my friends.”
b. “Now, by the gods, I drove my big hand spike / deep in the embers,
charring it again, / and cheered my men along with battle talk / to keep
their courage up: no quitting now.”
c. ‘Godsake, Captain! / Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!’
d. “… But Zeus disdained my offering; / destruction for my ships he had in
store / and death for those who sailed them, my companions.”
12. The following question has two parts. Answer Part A first, and then Part B.
Part A As they travel through the land of the Sirens in the excerpt from the
Odyssey, Part 1, how do Odysseus’ men avoid falling under the Sirens’ spell?
a. Odysseus ties them up.
b. Odysseus plugs their ears.
c. They look only at their oars.
d. They listen only to Odysseus.
Part B Which of these passages from “The Sirens” in the excerpt from the
Odyssey, Part 1, best supports the answer to Part A?
a. ‘… Sirens / weaving a haunting song over the sea / we are to shun, she said,
and their green shore / all sweet with clover; yet she urged that I / alone
should listen to their song….’
b. ‘… Therefore / you are to tie me up, tight as a splint, / erect along the
mast, lashed to the mast, / and if I shout and beg to be untied, / take more
turns of the rope to muffle me.’
c. “The lovely voices in ardor appealing over the water / made me crave to
listen, and I tried to say / ‘Untie me!’ to the crew, jerking my brows; / but
they bent steady to the oars….”
d. “… My faithful company / rested on their oars now, peeling off / the wax
that I had laid thick on their ears; / then set me free.”
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GRADE 9 • UNIT 5 • SELECTION TEST
FROM THE ODYSSEY, PART 1, BY HOMER, TRANSLATED BY ROBERT FITZGERALD
Name: Date:
CLOSE READ: Analyze Craft and Structure
Identify the choice that best answers the question.
13. Why does most of the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1, qualify as a flashback?
a. Homer interrupts the story of Odysseus’ journey home by having
Odysseus tell Alcinous of earlier events.
b. In early scenes, Homer hints at dangers that Odysseus will face in future
episodes of the epic.
c. Homer opens the narrative with an invocation to the muse of epic poetry.
d. The adventures of Odysseus are set in the distant past, in ancient Greece.
14. Which of these quotations from the excerpt from the Odyssey, Part 1, best
illustrates typical qualities of an epic hero?
a. “In the next land we found were Cyclopes, / giants, louts, without a law
to bless them.”
b. “Now, by the gods, I drove my big hand spike / deep in the embers,
charring it again, / and cheered my men along with battle talk / to keep
their courage up: no quitting now.”
c. “We beached her, grinding keel in the soft sand, / and waded in,
ourselves, on the sandy beach.”
d. “I rather dwelt on this part of the forecast, / while our good ship made
time, bound outward down / the wind for the strange island of Sirens.”
15. By definition, what makes the Odyssey an epic?
a. It is a long lyric poem that expresses a speaker’s strong emotions about
actual events.
b. It is a long narrative poem featuring real people and based on actual
historical events.
c. It is a long dramatic poem that includes supernatural elements and
features long journeys.
d. It is a long narrative poem featuring a hero who embodies traits that are
important to his culture.
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GRADE 9 • UNIT 5 • SELECTION TEST
FROM THE ODYSSEY, PART 1, BY HOMER, TRANSLATED BY ROBERT FITZGERALD
Name: Date:
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: Word Study
Identify the choice that best answers the question.
16. If adverse means “harmful” or “opposed,” what does it most likely mean if two
people are adversaries?
a. They are close colleagues.
b. They are similar to each other.
c. They provide relief to each other.
d. They are in conflict with each other.
17. If a fathom is a measure of depth, what does fathomless most likely mean?
a. to have no measurement tools
b. to have a measure of width
c. to be too deep to measure
d. to be of average depth
18. If associate means “to connect two things or people in one’s mind,” which
situation illustrates disassociation?
a. The company tried to distance itself from its former celebrity
spokesperson after he was convicted of a crime.
b. The organization held a meeting to discuss a change in strategy and
invited all its employees to attend.
c. The editors of the school newspaper have decided to begin work on the
yearbook early this year.
d. Belle and Liam had been close friends since the second grade, and they
went to the same college.
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